Charles River Associates Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.57 (NASDAQ:CRAI)

Charles River Associates (NASDAQ:CRAI) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.57 per share by the business services provider on Friday, March 20th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th.

Charles River Associates has raised its dividend by an average of 0.2%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 7 years. Charles River Associates has a payout ratio of 26.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Charles River Associates to earn $7.77 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.3%.

Charles River Associates Trading Up 4.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:CRAI traded up $7.14 during trading on Thursday, hitting $167.40. 176,930 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 136,437. The company has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $193.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $191.31. Charles River Associates has a 52 week low of $149.96 and a 52 week high of $227.29.

Charles River Associates (NASDAQ:CRAI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.01. Charles River Associates had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 7.74%.The business had revenue of $196.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $190.54 million. On average, analysts predict that Charles River Associates will post 7.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on CRAI. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Charles River Associates from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Charles River Associates in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Barrington Research increased their price objective on Charles River Associates from $239.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $245.00.

Charles River Associates Company Profile

Charles River Associates (NASDAQ: CRAI) is a global consulting firm specializing in economic, financial and management advisory services. Founded in 1965 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, the company provides expert analysis to support litigation, regulatory proceedings, and strategic decision-making. Its multidisciplinary teams draw on academic rigor and industry experience to deliver quantitative and qualitative insights tailored to clients’ needs.

The firm’s service offerings include competition economics, antitrust and merger analysis, intellectual property valuation and damages assessment, and risk management.